AN illegal oil bunkering site at Okpare River in Okpare community, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State has exploded, leaving one of the bunkerers and a trader seriously burnt, while canoes, containers, pumping machines, hose and other tools used by the bunkerers, at the time of the explosion were all razed.
Some members of the oil bunkering syndicate, including the driver of the van that was to convey the condensate to Ughelli for sale and no fewer than four others escaped unhurt.
But in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, men of the Inspector-General of Police (INGENPOL) Monitoring Unit on Pipeline Vandalisation in Delta State, headed by Mr. Murtala Minjibir, a Superintendent of Police, arrested four members of a syndicate that allegedly specialises in the vandalisation of oil pipelines in addition to the seizure of three trucks loaded with black oil.
Vanguard gathered that the condensate thieves were transferring the stolen petroleum product, ferried from Otor-Edo in canoes into water tanks placed in a van that was positioned at the Okpare River bank when the pumping machine hit a metal object and sparked a fire, causing an explosion that enveloped the entire area.
The trader, a native of Otor-Edo, was said to be returning from Okpare market when the raging fire caught up with him. The two victims were reportedly rushed to the Central Hospital, Ughelli, but the associates of the condensate thief later removed him from the hospital when they learnt that security operatives were on his trail.
Security operatives and officials of an oil company have already visited the scene of the explosion but no arrest was made. However, it was a different story for the four persons that were caught by the INGENPOL Monitoring Unit at Amoukpokpor community and Oku-Elume village as they were nabbed on the spot.
The commander commended the villagers for giving useful information to the unit, saying: �We are promising these vandals that henceforth, it would no longer be business as usual. We have both manpower and operational logistics to match them and we would not relent until we achieve our set out goal of putting an end to these criminal acts.�
Some of the villagers told Vanguard that the river, linking the Escravos and Benin River, had been serving as a major off-loading point by vandals to discharge petroleum products from barges to trucks before being moved to neighbouring towns and cities for sale.